Can I compile a java file with a different name than the class?

Question

Is there any way to compile a java program without having the java file name with its base class name.

If so, please explain..

Answer 1

To answer the question take a look at this example:
Create a file Sample.java

class A 
{ 
   public static void main(String args[])
   { 
      String str[] = {""}; 
      System.out.println("hi"); 
      B.main(str); 
   } 
} 
class B 
{ 
   public static void main(String args[]) 
   { 
     System.out.println("hello");
   }
} 

now you compile it as javac Sample.java and run as java A then output will be

hi 
hello

or you run as java B then output will be
hello

Notice that none of the classes are marked public therefore giving them default access. Files without any public classes have no file naming restrictions.

Answer 2

Your Java file name should always reflect the public class defined within that file. Otherwise, you will get a compiler error. For example, test.java:

public class Foo {}

Trying to compile this gives:

[steven@scstop:~]% javac test.java
test.java:1: class Foo is public, should be declared in a file named Foo.java
public class Foo {
       ^
1 error

So you must have your filename match your public class name, which seems to render your question moot. Either that or I don't understand what you're asking... spending some time explaining what you are actually trying to achieve would go a long way towards asking a more effective question :)

Answer 3

As long as you don't have a public class in your source file, you can name your source file to any name and can compile. But, if you have a public class in your source file, that file should have the name same as your class name. Otherwise, compiler will throw an error.

Example:
Filename: TestFileName.java

public class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello,World\n");
    }
}

Compiling: javac TestFileName.java

Error:

TestFileName.java:1: class HelloWorld is public, should be declared in a file named HelloWorld.java
public class HelloWorld
       ^
1 error

Answer 4

No, the public class name must match the file name. Inner, non public, class names may differ.

Answer 5

You must have a public class with the same name as the file name. This is a Very Good Thing. You CAN have secondary classes inside the same file as long as they are not public. They can still be "default" though, so they can still be used by other classes in the same package.

This should not be done for the most part. Java's naming patterns regarding classes and packages are one of the bigger advantages it has--makes a programmers life easier at no cost.

Answer 6

You can use the Java Compile API and compile any java source you wish, the source need not come from a file or could come from a file with an unrelated name. It depends on how obtuse you want to develop your program. ;)

Answer 7

yes, we compile a java file with a different name than the class, provided that there should not be any public class in that file.

If there is any public class in file then in that case you have to give that name as file name. But if your class does not contain any public class then you can give any name to you class.

Please refer below example to make it more clear:

file name : sample.java

 class A 
 { 
   public static void main(String args[])
  { 
    System.out.println("hi in Class A"); 
  }   
 } 
class B 
{ 
 public static void main(String args[]) 
 { 
    System.out.println("hello in class B");
 }
}

then compile it with(windows) : javac sample.java

then run it : java A

output : hi in Class A

then run it : java B

output : hello in class B

Please check and confirm.

Answer 8

It is not necessary to name your file same as the name of the class it has, until this class is public. Though it is a good practice to name the file same as the name of class.

The compiler will compile your file successfully and make a dot class file. Now at the run time you need to give class name to the JVM for that you have to keep the name of the class, which has main method, in your mind. If you keep both the file name and the class name same, it will become easy to remember the name of the compiled dot class file.

for example:
file Dummy.java
class Dummy
{
   public static void main(String args[])
   {
    System.out.println("This is Dummy class running");
   }
}  

to run the above code we will use : 
 Javac Dummy.java // to compile
  Java Dummy   //to run

  example:
  file Dummy.java
class Diff
{
     public static void main(String args[])
     {
      System.out.println("This is Diff class running");
     }
}  

to run the above code we will use : 
Javac Dummy.java // to compile
Java Diff   //to run

Answer 9

Yes,it is possible to compile a java source file with different file name but you need to make sure none of the classes defined inside are public...when you compile the source file the corresponding .class files for the classes inside the source file are created.

Answer 10

I guess what he means is the .java file is named differently than the actual class defined inside it.

I guess this is not possible.

Answer 11

No. You could write a shell script to rename the .java file before compiling it, but javac requires that filenames = class names.

(Also in windows, it's case insensitive, so ASDF.java can compile Asdf.class)

Answer 12

Yes,you can save your java source code file with any other name, not same as your main class name but when you comiple it than byte code file name will be same as your main class name. So for your ease of not to memorize to many names for java code run, You need to have your file name same as your main class than only your file name and byte code file will be with same name.

Answer 13

yes, you can choose any name for the file (.java). there is no matter to what are the name of classes in that file means that class names may be totaly different from the file name. you should compile the program with file name and you should run the program with the class name in which the main method exist. main methods may be multiple in different classes so you should run it with the class name in which the main method you want to run......

Answer 14

If class is not public you can save it using other name like if classname is Simple then save it Hard.java. complie->Hard.java run->Simple.java Save your java file by .java only. compile javac .java run java yourclassname For example if my program main class name is A then save by .java only
compile by javac .java
run by java A

Answer 15

we can save the file tootle different name of class name because in java we compile the program but we run the method. we have to compile our program with file name and run our class name

Answer 16

yes, we can compile a java file with a different name than the class, provided that there should not be any public class in that file.

If there is any public class in file then in that case you have to give that name as file name. But if your class does not contain any public class then you can give any name to you class.

Please refer below example to make it more clear:

file name : example.java

class A 
 { 
   public static void main(String args[])
  { 
    System.out.println("You are in Class A"); 
  }   
 } 
class B 
{ 
 public static void main(String args[]) 
 { 
    System.out.println("You are in class B");
 }
}

then compile it with : javac example.java

then run it : java A

output : you are in Class A

then run it : java B

output : you are in class B

Please check and confirm.

Answer 17

You can write more than one main methods in java because java provides main method overloading in which main method can also be overloaded . Once you compile the file here example.java Compiler create .class file which contains main method when you run the file with java A it will run the A.class file whih contains the main method of class A and that output will be display on you screen ,but when you run this file with java B ,It runs the B.class file which provides main method of B class So your code is run successfully

Answer 18

According to the other answers the only viable solution is to somehow determine the classname from the source, then use it to rename the file to proper name and compile it as usual.

---

Another option is to alter the package and class name in the source to match file name:

sed -i -r "0,/package/s/^\s*package .*?;/package new.klass.pkg;/" %1
sed -i -r "0,/class/s/public\s+class .+?\{/public class NewClassName {/" %1

Via How to use sed to replace only the first occurrence in a file?

Answer 19

Yes. This can be done.

The main reason for the class and file name to be same are to make the job of the complier easy to check which class it needs to run, in the whole list of the Java classes.

So it's a good practice to have filename and class name as same.

And you have compile and run a class with different name other than the filename, If you don't have any public methods in this class.

Answer 20

By convention, the name of the main class should match the name of the file that holds the program. You should also make sure that the capitalization of the filename matches the class name.

The convention that filenames correspond to class names may seem arbitrary. However, this convention makes it easier to maintain and organize your programs. Furthermore, in some cases, it is required.

Answer 21

You can have your java file even without name ( simply ".java" ). Only thing is you should not have any public class in your file.